Original of the Species
by livnonaprayer24
Summary: He was a child of Seattle and this was his life – Meredith and Derek’s fifteen year old son is learning various lessons of life. Along with the help of his family and friends, all of which are the backbones of the surgical floor at Seattle Grace Hospital
1. Somewhere Only We Know

**Disclaimer**: I do not have any affiliation with Grey's Anatomy. I do not own the characters either. This is simply for fun.

**Summary: **He was a child of Seattle and this was his life – Meredith and Derek's fifteen-year-old son is learning various lessons of life. Along with the help of his family and friends, all of which are the backbones of the surgical floor at Seattle Grace Hospital.

**A/N: **Hello. I hope you enjoy this story. If you have any constructive criticism please fill me in, write a review or e-mail me. )

* * *

**Chapter I**

Somewhere Only We Know

The fifteen-year-old boy stood in front of his locker. He collected what he needed for the afternoon and zipped up his backpack. His brown wavy hair blocked his vision so he pushed the thick hair back. There was no soccer practice today, which he was thankful for. He walked down the expansive hall until he reached the stairs.

"Shepherd!"

He turned around, his best friend Matt Sloan was walking behind him. He knew that Matt couldn't stay and talk for long because he had a biology lab to make up. Matt skipped bio today, not the best of ideas.

"Hey," James Shepherd said to his friend.

"Are you off to the hospital?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, gotta pick Logan up, and I thought I would see if there were any cool surgeries going on. I've got nothing better to do tonight." James answered.

"Oh, well can you give this to my mom, or my dad if you see him?" Matt asked handing James a piece of paper.

"What is this?" James asked.

"Just a note from my biology teacher saying that I skipped it today and I'm failing." Matt smiled his trademark smile.

"Yeah, sure. I've got to go or I'm going to miss the 3:30 Ferry Boat heading toward the hospital." James said turning around.

"See you later." Matt yelled as James ran down the stairs.

James put on his green Dartmouth sweatshirt and ran out of his high school embracing the rain. His Nike sneakers instantly became damp as he ran down the sidewalk toward the water. Everywhere he went it seemed as if he was running. It was just who he was. Soon the rain inflicted his jeans and sweatshirt and hood. But not his hair. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was wet messy hair.

He quickly reached the Ferry Boat, paid the toll and got on. He was a child of Seattle and this was his life.

The Ferry Boat honked and soon enough he was on the other side of Seattle. Exiting the Ferry Boat he ran the familiar route to Seattle Grace Hospital. He finally reached the building and stepped inside. Warmth hit his cold cheeks; the tingly sensation quickly came and just as promptly, it left. He pushed his hood down revealing the infamous hair. He rubbed his blue eyes dry of the rain and proceeded toward the elevator.

An elderly woman was also waiting for the elevator. As was a doctor and a middle aged man. One of the elevators came and the four of them got on. They all chose their respective floors except for the middle-aged man.

"Does anyone know where billing is?" He asked.

"Either on floor one or the basement." The doctor replied.

"It's the basement." James answered confidently. The man nodded and pressed the "B" button and the elevator went down. Then the elevator went up. And up again. Until it hit the surgical floor. James wished the elderly women who still remained on the elevator a good day and stepped off.

Well-known territory. James walked down the hall. The sound of his soggy shoes slipping on the cold linoleum. He reached the locker room and walked in expecting to see his little brother. But he wasn't there. He took his backpack and wet sweatshirt off, revealing his blue polo shirt. Since his brother wasn't there he figured he would check his dad's office.

James walked across the bridge that the surgical floor contained and saw through the glass windows that his dad wasn't in his office. Surgical board, that was what was next to check.

He walked down to the surgical board and looked for the names of his parents. He immediately found them. Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd, in OR 2. Which meant that he could observe from the gallery.

He walked to where the entrance of the gallery was seeing a number of faces in the small glass room. None of them familiar except for that of his brother's.

"I'm sorry can I help you?" One of the people sitting in the room asked James. He realized that he didn't have his tag on him, explaining who he was, and why he was authorized to be unattended to on the surgical floor.

"Oh, um, I just came to…" He was cut off by a recognizable voice.

"James, I thought you have soccer in the afternoons." Addison Montgomery Sloan commented coming up behind James, also wanting to enter the gallery.

"Uh, not today. It was cancelled. Sorry, Addison, I don't have my ID card so can you just tell him that I can be here. I forgot my ID tag in my bag." James asked.

"Oh, yes, of course. Dr. Springer, this is Dr. Grey and Chief Shepherd's son, James. Logan's brother." Addison added seeing Logan sitting in the corner.

The young doctor nodded and Addison and James made their way to where Logan was sitting.

"So where's Matt, I mean if you don't have soccer, he sure doesn't." Addison asked.

"Oh, I'm supposed to give you this." James said pulling out the piece of paper Matt had handed him earlier.

"Oh God," Addison said obviously aggravated, she took the paper and silently read it. Her face quickly turned emotion, the smile turned into a frown almost instantly.

"Sorry boys, I have to go. It seems I owe Matt's biology teacher an apology for my son's actions. I'll see you later." Addison smiled and walked out.

James was now sitting next to his ten year old brother Logan. Logan and James looked pretty much exactly alike except for Logan had dirty blonde thick hair, where James had brown.

"So, how long have you been here?" James asked his brother.

"Half-hour maybe." Logan mumbled, eyes fixated on his PSP.

"It's a cool surgery, you don't want to watch it?" James asked noticing his brother was playing the video gaming device.

"Eh, not really." Logan answered.

"I'll tell mom that you've been playing it all day." James said knowing that his mother didn't want Logan constantly playing the PSP.

"You wouldn't!" Logan exclaimed looking up from his PSP. James quickly grabbed it out of his brother's hands and started to play the game.

"Got you." James laughed.

"Hey not fair!" Logan yelled swatting at his brother's hands.

"Hey! Stop, you're going to mess me up." James turned away from his brother. The yelling got some of the other doctors' attention.

"Argh! Give it back James! Mom gave it to me for Christmas, not to you!" Logan yelled.

"Come on Logan! Give me 5 min. on it!" James asked turning around.

"No, I was so close to the end of that game, give it back!" Logan yelled attacking James' hands and taking the PSP hostage. Until about a nanosecond later when it dropped and shut off. "Now look what you've done!" Logan yelled hitting his brother.

"Oh come on, that was so your fault!" James screamed back. Logan pushed James off of the seat, and James went tumbling on the floor, "You're so dead!" James yelled back and the two brothers started rolling around on the floor attempting to beat each other up.

"Hey, break it up!" One of the doctors yelled. This got Meredith Grey's attention, she was down in the operating room assisting her husband on a hemispherectomy. She looked up and saw her two sons being separated by some interns and other doctors.

"Oh God," She said.

"What?" Derek asked looking up from the brain his eyes were fixated on.

"Look," Meredith pointed to the gallery.

"Oh my God." Derek murmured, "Steve, can you put the intercom on. Thanks." Derek said as the man pushed the button.

"You two, my office, now!" Derek yelled into the intercom.

"Dr. Springer, can you bring our sons to Dr. Shepherd's office and wait with them until we're done with this surgery. We'll probably be another ten minuets." Meredith asked the intern.

"Certainly Dr. Grey." Dr. Springer took the too boys out.

"Thanks," Meredith said eyeing Derek and they continued with the surgery.

* * *

Derek and Meredith walked out of the operating room and into the scrub room. They both took off their gloves and facemasks throwing them into the biohazard bag. Meredith removed her scrub cap; Derek kept his on for the time being.

"That was embarrassing." Meredith commented turning on the water and taking some of the special soap to scrub her hands with.

"Oh, they're just boys Meredith, it's going to happen." Derek smiled washing his hands off.

"I know, but not while they're watching a surgery." Meredith said continuing to scrub her hands.

"I guess, but it was just going to happen. I used to fight with my friends when I was younger all the time." Derek said as he shut the water off and grabbed a paper towel. He then leaned up against the sink and took his wedding band out from the pocket on his scrubs.

"It's just frustrating." Meredith said finishing with the water and took a paper towel from Derek. She took off the necklace that she wore with her engagement ring and wedding band on it and put the two rings on her finger and put the gold chain in the pocket of her scrubs.

"I know," Derek said kissing his wife's cheek, "It wont happen here again." Derek smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"You're scrub cap is still on." Meredith commented and walked out of the room. Derek took his cap off and ran his hand through his hair before walking out of the room and catching up with Meredith.

"So, punishment?" Derek asked Meredith as they walked toward Derek's office.

"I don't know, probably a week or two without the Play Station whatever for Logan." Meredith said.

"And for James?" Derek asked nodding to one of the surgeons that had just said hi to him.

"I don't know, no soccer?" Meredith suggested.

"Yeah, I think that would be more of a relief than punishment." Derek laughed as they approached his office.

"How about we put him up for babysitting duty whenever any of our friends want to go out for the night, he can do it for Izzie and Alex, and George. Maybe Christina and Burke." Meredith recommended as the pair reached Derek's office seeing the two boys in the chairs in front of his desk and the intern standing in the corner.

"That sounds good." Derek said as he opened to the door to his office and let Meredith in. The room was pretty plain. The walls were a light blue with pictures on them. His desk had pictures of the two boys and him and Meredith on it.

"Thank you Dr. Springer, remind me later and I'll let you scrub in on a surgery." Meredith told the intern of a former intern of hers.

"Anytime Dr. Grey." And with that Dr. Springer left the room leaving the four Shepherds alone. Derek took a seat on his desk and Meredith just stood against the wall perpendicular to her sons.

"What the hell happened in there?" Derek asked. Logan just sat with his arms across his chest looking at the floor. James looked beyond Derek to the large windows that looked into the hospital.

"You're not going to talk, huh?" Derek said. The boys didn't move a limb, "Alright, then. Logan a week and a half without the PSP." Logan started to object.

"Want to make it three?" Meredith asked. He sat right back down.

"And JJ, you are on babysitting duty." Derek said using the nickname given to James John Grey Shepherd as a baby.

"What the hell does that mean?!" James asked.

"Language!" Derek looked sternly at his son and James sent a look back.

"It means, that for the next week and a half, you will baby-sit for Christina and Preston, Izzie and Alex, George and Erin, etc." Meredith explained to her son.

"Any complaints?" Derek asked stepping off his desk. The boys both looked down at the blue swirly carpeting.

"Good, now your mom has a couple more hours here but I can leave now. Are you ready to go home?" Derek asked.

"Do you have any other surgeries?" James asked Meredith.

"I have a craniotomy in ten minuets." Meredith replied glancing at the clock on Derek's wall.

"I'll stay and watch it." James said.

"No, you will not. You both are banned from the gallery for one week." Derek alleged.

"Whatever," Logan muttered.

"What! Not fair! This wasn't even my fault! If Logan weren't so obsessed with his stupid PSP this never would have happened. I want to watch surgeries! Come on Dad, this is so unfair. I mean Logan doesn't even care about the whole gallery punishment but I do!" James ranted.

"JJ, you can watch from the scrub room if you want to, just for tonight." Meredith told her son. She shot a look at Derek and he nodded, obviously not content with the decision.

"Okay, Logan I'm taking you home, I'll meet you by my car in fifteen minuets. James, the craniotomy is in OR 1, so go ahead down." Derek told the two boys and they got up, hands in their pockets, and left the room.

Meredith and Derek just sat there; Derek rubbed his face and then turned around and got his things together so he could go home.

"He likes to watch the surgeries Derek, it's better that he's here than goofing off with Matt or doing something worse." Meredith said.

"I guess. So I'll see you at home?" Derek questioned.

"Yeah, I'll call you when we're leaving." Meredith explained. She went over to Derek and gave him a quick kiss, "I love you."

"Love you too, see you later." Derek smiled and squeezed her hand as she walked out of the room and toward the OR.

Derek continued to pack up his things. He put papers and other various belongings in his brief case. His eyes scanned the pictures of his desk. My how time had gone by. His oldest son was fifteen years old and his youngest approaching eleven. He was finally at terms with his life. He had an amazing family, he was Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace, and he had an amazing group of friends.

Derek shut the lamp off in the corner of the office. He decided he would just leave his trademark indigo scrubs on and change at home. He walked out of his office and left Seattle Grace Hospital to meet up with his son.

* * *

**Next**: Derek and Meredith attend James' soccer game, an accident occurs on the playing field. Also, find out what Christina and Burke are up to, as well as some of the other old interns.

**A/N: **Did you like it? Let me know if you did in a review. Could it be better? Give me suggestions.

Thank You!


	2. Better Days

**Disclaimer**: I do not have any affiliation with Grey's Anatomy. I do not own the characters either. This is simply for fun.

**A/N: **Thank you for the awesome reviews. Please continue with that. Also, I apologize for this chapter being a little long but it's also will last longer so think of it that way.

* * *

**Chapter II**

Better Days

Meredith Grey sighed as she stepped out of her third surgery of the day. Busy day, she thought to herself. Being an attending had its perks, but it definitely had drawbacks. She was just glad to be done with residency and internship and dealing with interns none the less. She was just thankful to still be in Seattle and not in some God forsaken place.

She quickly glanced at her watch. The face had multiple scratches on it but it still worked. Half past three. She technically was done for the day, and Derek was done whenever he pleased. Quickly she took her cell phone out of her white coat pocket and checked to see if she had anything this afternoon.

James' soccer game was at 4:15. It took twenty minutes to get to the field so she had some time.

Meredith made her way to the locker room where she met up with Christina, "Hey, you off for the night?" Meredith asked her friend while opening her locker.

"No, on call tonight." Christina groaned, "Burke's going home so he can be with Elyse."

Meredith just smiled, "I have to go to a high school varsity soccer game."

"I didn't like high school sports when I was in high school." Christina laughed.

"Well, apparently James is quite the jock." Meredith commented while taking her canvas bag and purse out of her locker and quickly glancing at her reflection before closing the locker shut, "So I should be going, got to see if Derek has left or not."

"Talk to you later," Christina said as Meredith left.

Meredith walked down the hall to Derek's office. He wasn't there but there was a note on his desk explaining that he had already left for James' game. She walked out of the office and out to her car. She put the keys in the car and was on her way across the harbor to James' high school. The sound of the tires on cold, hard, wet gravel made her bored, so she put on some music. These were the times she most frequently enjoyed. She loved being with her kids, and especially Derek. But it was nice to be alone every once in a while. She tapped along with whatever was on the CD on her steering wheel. The boring ride to James' high school wasn't so boring anymore.

Meredith finally arrived at the field behind the school. It was cloudy out and Meredith assumed it was going to rain. Soccer games were different in Seattle than she remembered they were at college in New Hampshire. They rarely called off for rain. Unless the field was saturated, the game wasn't called off. She saw Derek's small black sports car and pulled in next to it. She got out of the car and walked up to the field.

She walked up to the field and saw James running around with a soccer ball and then passed it on to Matt. There were other boys on the field. Boys she would have thought were good looking when she was in high school. She assumed many girls in James' high school thought he was good looking, he was the spitting image of Derek. And to her Derek was about as good looking as it got.

"Mom!" James yelled over to his mother, he smiled and pushed his hair out of his face. He waved and Meredith smiled back and waved. She loved that James greeted her. She knew that a lot of fifteen-year-old boys would probably not wave to their mothers. She knew, as a girl, she wouldn't have even acknowledged her mother when she was with a group of friends.

Meredith walked to where Derek was sitting on the bleachers with some other parents. She climbed up the icy metal and sat down next to Derek, "Hey," she said and gave him a quick kiss.

"Hey, how was your day?" Derek asked returning the kiss.

"Fine, basic. Had a couple surgeries, no one died on my watch so pretty good, how about yours?" Meredith had not seen Derek all day, or at least since the morning.

"Eh, pretty good. I did a lot of paperwork. It was kind of boring." Derek replied.

"That's good. How much longer until the game starts?" Meredith asked.

"Um," Derek quickly glanced at the scoreboard, " Eight minuets."

Meredith sighed and sat back. She watched her son play around on the field and waited for the game to start.

* * *

Christina was bored. She had no surgeries, she had an intern doing some post-ops and nothing better to do. It was after 3:00 so she figured she would call Elyse. She hadn't talked to her daughter for a while so she figured she should call. She dialed the all-familiar number to her house. The annoying ring pierced her ear five times. She knew that five times meant the answering machine would pick up and it did. Burke's voice came into her ear.

"Hi, you've reached the home of Dr. Christina Yang and Dr. Preston Burke and the Burke family. Please leave a message after the beep and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you."

The long beep rang in her ear and then she started to talk.

"Hey, it's me. Elyse, if you're there can you please pick up…" Christina waited and then she heard Elyse's voice.

"Hi mom."

"Hey kid, how was your day?" Elyse was in eighth grade and her favorite thing in the world to do was talk, so Christina figured that would buy her some time.

"Long. American history was fun. Language arts was so boring. I mean I don't even know why Mrs. Graves is a teacher. I mean seriously. And lunch time was interesting because…"

On the other end Christina half listened as Elyse rambled on. Burke came up to her. He was out of his scrubs. She assumed he was on his way home.

"And then today during art class…"

"Hey," Burke said to Christina as he walked up to the nurse's station where Christina sat and put his brief case on the table.

"Hey, I'm on the phone with Elyse." Christina said to Burke. It was apparently a mistake.

"Mom! Are you even listening to me?! Seriously, not cool." Elyse yelled into the phone.

"Sorry, you're Dad's here. Do you want to talk to him?" Christina asked.

"Is he coming home now? I mean he hasn't been home in like three days. A bit long if you ask me." Elyse asked.

"Yes, he's coming home. I won't be home until tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be home when you get home. Okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. I'll talk to you later. Bye." Elyse concluded.

"Bye." Christina hung up the phone and got up.

"So, I'll call you later. Have a nice night." Burke said taking Christina in his arms.

"Yeah, it's going to be a long one." Christina said looking up at her husband. She kissed him. And he kissed her back, deepening the kiss until the need for air became a problem.

"Talk to you later." Burke said giving Christina's arm a squeeze and walking away.

"Bye." Christina said sitting back down at the nurse's station.

* * *

Derek sat with Meredith watching his son and teammates get ready for the soccer game. He saw Addison out of the corner of his eye walking up the steps of the bleachers and Meredith waved to her.

"Hey!" Addison greeted.

"Hey, the game is starting. It looks like they're taking the field." Derek commented as Addison sat down next to Meredith, "Is Mark coming?" Derek hadn't seen Mark in a couple days. He and Addison were together for a while, married until Matt was seven, and then they split up. Mark was still in Seattle, but he had his own practice, occasionally he was at Seattle Grace.

"I think he might be coming later." Addison said, "Hey, look they're starting."

The boys were all out on the field. Matt and James both played on the forward line. Matt as right wing and James as left. The rain started to come down. Some umbrellas went up, but this was Seattle. You had to tough it out. The boys started running around the field. James' quickly got the ball, brought it up the field, passed to the center, and the center passed it to Matt. Eventually Matt passed it back to the center and James' team scored. James and Matt had been playing soccer together since they were five years old and they were a team themselves and apparently the only freshmen boys to ever make it on their high schools varsity team.

Matt and James looked like soccer players. Both of them were pretty tall, James was about 5'10'' and James was about 6'. Both were well built, Matt a bit better than James. James had the whole "Russell Crowe" hair going on. Just the same as Derek's. Matt's hair was shorter and strawberry blonde in color.

"The rain is really coming down," Meredith gave in and pulled her umbrella out putting it over her and Derek's head. Addison had hers out already.

"Yeah, I'm surprised they don't call it off, it's probably pretty dangerous out there." Derek said wiping his face free of the fallen rain. Just then the three heard a whistle and looked up, hoping that the ref. had called off the game.

No, James was lying on the ground.

"Derek…." Meredith started.

"Calm down Mer, he's fine. Probably just a break at the worst, the athletic trainer will deal with it right now." Derek said putting his hand over Meredith's to calm her down.

"He'll be fine Meredith, don't worry, this happened to Matt last year." Addison smiled.

A couple moments passed and didn't seem to be fine. James wasn't getting up. That wasn't normal, even if he did break his leg. Meredith knew it wasn't normal.

"Derek," He was looking down at his cell phone.

"Yeah," Derek said looking at Meredith.

"He's not getting up."

Derek looked out to the field and saw his son lying there. He would have expected him to get up by now. The athletic trainer, coach, and Matt were all crowded around James. Derek quickly got up. Along with Meredith, Addison got up and stood at the edge of the bleachers with her hand over her mouth.

Once Derek reached the bottom of the bleachers he ran out onto the field. When James was little, he used to go jogging with him for fun. This certainly was not fun. Meredith followed closely behind. Derek ran up to where his son was on the ground. He still was not moving. He reached center field where James was and was greeted by Matt.

"Derek, he just slipped I guess." Matt said looking down at his friend who was still on the ground, eyes closed.

"Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd I presume." The athletic trainer greeted Meredith and Derek.

"Doctors, we're doctors." Meredith said, she hated being called Ms. or Mrs. she was either Dr. Grey or Dr. Grey Shepherd.

"It looks as if he's unconscious," The trainer said.

"I can see that," Derek said grabbing his son's hand and taking a pulse, "Unequal."

"Should I call 9-1-1?" The coach asked.

"Yes," Derek answered quickly before taking his jacket off and putting it over his son. Meredith sat down next to James and pushed his hair back.

* * *

About ten minutes later an ambulance came. Addison left for Seattle Grace with Matt so they could tell everyone James was coming in. Meredith called George and asked him to pick Logan up at their house and bring him to the hospital. It was amazing how much you could accomplish in ten minutes. The paramedics took James into the ambulance along with Meredith and Derek.

"It looks like he may have broken his wrist as well," The paramedic named Dan told Meredith and Derek. The two paramedics, Dan and Chris, gave James oxygen and put his neck in a brace just for percussions. Derek took a light out of his brief case and opened James' left eyelid and shined it while the paramedics weren't looking. His pupils were not dilating. Not a great sign.

"Mercy West, we'll be taking him to Mercy West, I need you to fill out these forms please Mr…" Dan was obviously looking for a last name.

"Dr. Shepherd, it's Dr. Shepherd. And this is my wife Dr. Grey. Not Mercy West, please take James to Seattle Grace." Derek took the forms from Dan.

"I'm sorry sir, but Seattle Grace is not the best of options. Mercy West is closer." Dan told Derek.

"We both work at Seattle Grace, Derek," Meredith said, "Dr. Shepherd is the chief of surgery and we're both neurosurgeons there. Please take our son to Seattle Grace." Meredith reinstated. Derek just looked at the man.

"Chris, drive to Seattle Grace." Dan instructed Chris who was driving the ambulance.

"Sure." Chris said. Meredith looked out the back window of the ambulance. She had been in ambulances many times before, mostly with patients. But never with her own child. Logan had broken his arm once when he was younger, that was the only time one of her kids had been in the hospital. Izzie and Alex's daughter Lexie had her appendix removed once. And when George's son Carter was born early Addison had to perform a surgery on him. The rain started to come down harder and Meredith heard the pace of the windshield wipers quicken. God, how long was this ride going to take?

Finally they reached the hospital. Dan opened the back of the ambulance and two interns, Dr. Elgert, and Dr. Lynch greeted them.

"Chief Shepherd," Dr. Elgert said clearly not expecting to see him hop out of the ambulance.

"Dr. Grey," Dr. Lynch added as Derek grabbed Meredith's hand and she jumped out of the ambulance.

"James Shepherd, fifteen years old, slipped on the grass at a high school soccer game. Clearly unconscious and it looks like his wrist is broken." Dan told the two doctors.

Dr. Lynch looked at Dr. Elgert and then preceded, "This is your son?" She asked Derek and Meredith.

"Yes, take him to a room in the ER and we'll be right in. Make sure Dr. Yang knows he's here; I want her to examine him." Derek told Dr. Lynch. She quickly rolled the stretcher with James on it into the ER, "Dr. Elgert,"

"Yes?" He answered still remaining outside the ER with Meredith and Derek.

"Go into my office, here's the key. Get my indigo scrubs that are in one of the plastic containers. Also, get my Ferry Boat scrub cap out of my desk. Hanging on the back of the door should be my white coat, get that too." Derek ordered. "Oh here's the key." He flipped the other man the key and Dr. Elgert was quickly off.

"I'm going to change." Meredith said evidently thinking the same thing as Derek, "I'll meet you in James' room in ten minuets."

Dr. Lynch finally got James into a room and admitted him. Dr. Elgert came in with the things Derek asked for "Have you seen the chief?" He asked her.

"No," She answered.

"He asked me to get all this stuff for him, I don't know what to do with it." Dr. Elgert said.

"It must suck to have your kid in the hospital." Dr. Lynch said rather randomly.

"Kelly, he's going to be fine. Don't sweat it." Dr. Elgert reassured Dr. Lynch.

"How can you be so sure Jeff? I mean what happens if we kill the chief's son? What happens then huh?" Kelly asked Jeff Elgert.

"Calm down, you're being crazy." Jeff practically screamed at Kelly. It was the only way to calm her down.

Kelly stood there in her blue scrubs, she looked down at James and then back up at Jeff, "He looks just like them," she whispered.

"What?" Jeff asked as he turned around, he was about to go find Derek.

"Look at him, he looks just like the Chief." Kelly said. Jeff just looked at James; he looked back at Kelly and walked out of the room. He saw Derek running down the hall.

"Chief!" Jeff yelled out to get Derek's attention. Derek turned around, "I have your scrubs."

"Oh, thank you Dr. Elgert. How is James? Is he still in his soccer uniform? Did Christina come down?" Derek fired the questions at Jeff.

"Um, he's the same. And he's still in his uniform. Dr. Yang answered her page." Jeff answered.

Derek just nodded and turned and walked away he saw George walking down the hall with Logan. Logan's hair was wet and it looked like the two of them had been out in the rain.

"Dad!" Logan yelled. Logan ran up to Derek and Derek picked him up and gave him a hug while running his hand through his hair.

"Logan." Derek murmured into his son's hair. He saw Meredith walk around the corner in her blue scrubs carrying one of her favorite scrub caps.

"Logan, honey, how are you?" Meredith asked as Derek put his son down and Logan turned around.

"Fine, I'm fine. How is JJ? Is he okay?" Logan asked.

"He has a concussion and his wrist might be broken. I think there is something more to it." Meredith honestly told her son.

"I'm going to change, why don't you two go see James. I think Christina will be there now." Derek said kissing Meredith and messing with Logan's hair.

Meredith and Logan walked down the hall, George following behind. They reached James' room and saw that he was changed into hospital attire and Christina was finishing some paperwork, "Meredith." Christina saw her friend walk in.

"How is he?" Meredith asked. Logan saw the neck brace and some tubes coming out of his arms. He had seen hundreds of patients at Seattle Grace, but none in his family. James' face was pale and his eyes were not open. Logan was a little taken back by this.

"He's the same, his pulse has equalized but he's not responding to much. It seems like it could be neurological." Christina relayed to Meredith. She handed her the chart and Derek walked in the room with Dr. Lynch not to far behind.

"Um CT, no MRI. It'll be faster." Meredith concluded.

"I can take him up." Doctor Lynch offered.

"That would be great thanks, page us when you have a read on his brain." Derek told the intern and she wheeled the bed out of the room.

* * *

Derek, Meredith, and Logan all sat in Derek's office. Derek and Meredith were sitting in the chairs across from Derek's desk and Logan was twirling around in Derek's big chair. There was always just something about big twirling comfortable chairs. They were an invitation for fun. However, Logan Clayton Grey Shepherd was not having fun. He just wanted for James to get better quickly so he could go back to his normal life. The familiar sound of the pager disrupted Logan's thoughts.

"Come on, let's go check out the MRI." Derek got up from his chair and Meredith and Logan followed behind him. Logan saw the distress in his mothers face and he thought to himself, 'what would James do now?'. James grabbed onto his mother's hand, she looked down at hum and he just gave a closed mouth sympathetic smile.

The family made it up to the room where the MRI was done and Meredith and Derek took their seat in the black chairs in front of the computer monitors. Logan sat on Meredith's lap for lack of space.

"I don't see any amoralities, there's nothing here that explains why he's out cold." Derek just stared at the MRI as he listened to Dr. Lynch's theory.

"No, look." Meredith cut Dr. Lynch off as she pointed to the screen. It was small but it was there.

"He's bleeding, it's not bad. Easily fixable we'll have to drain a hole in his brain and drain the excess fluid. If he regains consciousness we'll take the next step. If he doesn't, we'll operate." Meredith suggested to Derek, "It's your call Derek."

"Yeah. I'll drill into his brain. It will drain and then we'll go from there." Derek said.

Logan just sat there. His parents were going to drill into his brother's brain. It was little awkward sounding.

Space

Logan sat in the waiting room with George. His parents had been advised not to, but they still did the procedure on James. He looked at his thumbs, then at the pictures on the wall. Seattle Grace was usually an inviting place, but not now. This was taking a while. It was already eleven o'clock and he had gotten to the hospital at half past five. Logan looked up and saw Mark walk up to him and George.

"Hey there." Mark greeted smiling, "How you holdin' up there bud?"

Logan assumed the question was directed to him, "Fine I guess." Mark smiled, ruffled with Logan's hair, and took the seat next to him.

"Dr. Sloan, can you please hang out with Logan for a couple minutes? I am going to go call home," George asked.

"Sure thing." Mark leaned his head back on the wall and George walked away, "Are any of you're parents friends here?"

"Um, Christina is with them. And I think Izzie and Alex are at home," Logan thought to himself, "Oh and Addison and Matt are here, or they were. They went to my house to get some clothes for James for the next couple days." Logan hated bringing up Addison in front of Mark; it was just awkward.

The two just sat there waiting for any news at all. Finally after about five minutes of silence Mark spoke up, "You're parents are the best Neurosurgeons I know. You're brother's problem is neurological, he is going to be more than fine."

"Yeah. I hope so." Logan looked back down at his shoes and then heard footsteps. His mom walked into the waiting room.

"Mom! How is he?" Logan asked.

"He should be fine. He's groggy right now but should be okay soon. He has a problem with his left arm and leg. We are going to talk to him about it when he wakes up." Meredith concluded.

"Did the fluid drain?" Mark asked.

"Yes, all of it drained. Oh, I just saw George in the hallway and he had to go home. He says bye to all of you." Meredith supplied George's words.

"Can we see James mom?" Logan asked.

"I'll stay here." Mark said not wanting to disrupt the family, "You go see JJ, it'll be fine.

"Come with me." Meredith and Logan walked down the hallway to James' room. They entered the room and Derek was sitting, half asleep in the chair in the corner. Christina had left because she had patients to attend to. Logan's eyes fixated on James. His hair. He had no hair. He had a little, but it wasn't the hair Logan knew. His brother always had wavy, thick, brown hair. It was gone. Logan ran a hand through his own thick dirty blonde hair. It was their trademark. They had the "Shepherd" hair. His dad and him had the "Shepherd" hair, but now James didn't. It just didn't see right.

Meredith must have picked up on Logan's thoughts, "It'll grow back soon, you know your hair, it grows so fast."

"Mom?" Logan looked at James, and Meredith turned around. James had woken up.

"James," Meredith walked over to her son and kissed his head.

"What happened, where am I?" James looked around more confused than ever he caught sight of Derek and quickly questioned the man he admired most, "Dad?"

Derek immediately woke up, he wasn't tired anymore, "You're in Seattle Grace, you fell during your soccer game. You were out cold for about three hours until your mom and I relieved some pressure in your brain. You're okay now, but there are still some concerns about the function of your left hand and leg. But you're okay JJ, and that's what matters." Derek walked over to James' bed and sat down on the side.

"My hair, you had to shave my hair?" Jams ran his hand over his almost bald head.

"I'm sorry JJ, I'm so sorry." Meredith apologized and put her head down on her sons shoulder, "But you're okay, you freaked us out there for a while."

"I'm kind of tired. I think I'm going to go back to sleep." James looked exhausted and everyone knew that he was just coming out of being sedated.

"Alright bud, sleep well." Derek squeezed his son's shoulder, "We'll be here when you wake up, we promise."

"Alright, goodnight." James sleepily said. Derek kissed his head and Meredith kept her head on his shoulder.

"No, wait!" Logan exclaimed softly before his brother was about to close his eyes.

"What?" James asked.

Logan walked over to the bed, in front of Derek, and next to the nightstand in the hospital bedroom, "Here." Logan took his PSP out of his pocket and put it on James' nightstand, "For when you wake up, you can play with it. I mean if your hand is okay, if not there's movies and stuff too."

"Thanks," James smiled his mini McDreamy smile. Derek put his arms around Logan and pulled him back against him and kissed his thick head of hair. James drifted off to sleep, and so did Meredith. There was one chair left in the room, Derek picked Logan up, who was half asleep as it was, and carried him over to the chair and sat down. He placed his son on his lap and as comfortably as he could, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Tomorrow would be a better day.

* * *

**Next:** Continuing on with James in the hospital. More about the other doctors.

**A/N:** I know I said that I was going to put the other doctors in this chapter but it didn't flow as well. Hang in there.

Please review. )


	3. Upon This Title Wave of Young Blood

**Disclaimer**: I do not have any affiliation with Grey's Anatomy. I do not own the characters either. This is simply for fun.

**A/N: **Here's another chapter. I'll try to keep the updates a little more constant.

* * *

**Chapter III**

Upon This Title Wave of Young Blood

Days had passed since James' initial surgery. He had regained strength in his left leg and arm. Derek was almost positive they were not going to have to go into his brain again, but there was still a concern. It had been five days and today was the day that Callie was going to perform surgery on his wrist and arm to reset the bones. It was half past six in the morning and it was time for rounds. Meredith and Derek were not at the hospital at the moment, they were at home getting Logan off to school. James was asleep when Alex walked into the room with s group of interns. Alex went over to James and silently shook him awake.

"What?" James slowly opened his eyes.

"Morning kid, I've got some interns here to round on you. Plus your parents are coming in about thirty minutes so you might want to wake up." Alex suggested to the kid.

James rubbed his eyes and smoothed down his grey t-shirt. He put a hand to his hair to see if maybe anything had grown over night, but there wasn't much there. More than when it was first cut off though.

"Alright, Dr. Elgert, are you presenting the case?" Alex asked Jeff Elgert.

"Uh, yeah. James Shepherd. Age fifteen. Post-op day five and has an operation scheduled for," Jeff looked down at James' chart, "1:30 this afternoon with Dr. Torres to reset the ulna and radius in his left arm and wrist.

"Good, Dr. Elgert you'll be bringing James to pre-op in a little while," Alex told the man, "and you, I will be in to see you later." Alex directed the comment to James.

"Okay, cool. Hey, today is what, Friday?" James asked anyone who would listen in the room.

"Yes," Three of the four interns replied. Alex had already walked out of the room.

"Fourth day without school, sweet." James replied laying back with his hands behind his head and smiling.

The interns just smiled and left except for Dr. Elgert who filled some stuff out on James' chart.

"So, what's up?" James asked the man, "Your name is Jeff right?"

"Yeah." Jeff said glancing up from the chart.

"My mom likes you, says you're a lot like Alex was when he was an intern." James said taking a sip of the water that was supplied for him on his nightstand.

"Yep, so your what like a freshman in high school?" Jeff asked sitting down in one of the chairs in James' room.

"Yep." James replied.

"Sucks. High school sucks." Jeff said getting back up while sensing someone else's presence in the room,

"Matt! What are you doing here?" James asked seeing Matt standing in the doorway.

"I'll see you later Mr. Shepherd," Jeff said formally.

"James. It's James." James smiled and Jeff nodded and walked out of the room, "Matt, why are you not at school?"

"Well, I convinced my dad that I was very distressed about your surgery and he said I could come here as long as I hang out with you, so I'm here. Hey is that your brother's PSP on the table. Give it here." Matt smiled.

"Thanks for coming." James passed Matt the PSP.

"Hey, I've got your back whenever." Matt said taking the PSP from James and the two exchanged their legendary fist hit.

* * *

Meredith insisted that Logan attend school, even if his brother was having surgery. 'It would keep his mind focused and off of everything' she had told Logan and Derek. Logan, reluctantly, had agreed to go to school. However, it had been promised that George was going to pick him up at exactly at two o'clock, which was early, and bring him to Seattle Grace. Another plus about going to school on this particular day was that his parents were going to drive him to school. It was always nice to be driven to school in a slick black Porsche. Also, if he didn't feel like doing any of the work at school he could use the 'my brother is sick and in the hospital' card. It was a given. Logan knew how to play the teachers.

"Logan! Time to go!" Meredith yelled up the stairs of their house.

"He's not up there, I think he's out by the water." Derek said coming down the stars buttoning his shirt.

"Alright, let's go." Meredith said in a hurry. She was all scattered this morning. Derek assumed it was because of the surgery.

"Hey," Derek grabbed Meredith's arm and pulled her into him, "It's going to be fine, it's just a simple surgery. Plus, if he regains function of his arm again, no brain surgery." Derek pushed a strand of Meredith's hair behind her ear and smiled "Come on, let's go get Logan."

"You go, I'll be out by the car." Meredith kissed Derek and walked away.

Derek exited the rather large house and walked down to the waterfront. They lived where the trailer used to be. When Meredith had James, she insisted that they build their own house and Derek had more than enough land so they built what Derek liked to call a '7,000 square ft. starter castle' on the waterfront. Logan was sitting with his backpack skipping stones on the water. Derek remembered when he taught the two boys how to skip stones. It was one of the many father-son outings the three shared.

"Hey bud, time to get to school." Derek said putting his hands in his pockets and raising his shoulders to keep the cold out. Logan turned around, his hair blowing in the wind and his sea blue eyes brighter than ever. He stood up from the ground and brushed his khakis off. He tugged his hooded sweatshirt's hood up and put his hands in the large pocket of the blue sweatshirt and ran over to Derek. Derek put his arm around the young boy and the pair walked over to the car. Meredith was sitting in the passenger seat and Logan got in the backseat and haphazardly threw his backpack down on the seat next to him. Derek got in the drivers seat and turned the car on and the family was off.

There was a cloud of silence over the black vehicle as the family drove towards Logan's upper-elementary school. Logan looked out the window as the trees whooshed by. Finally after the drive they reached Logan's school. Logan gathered his backpack and unbuckled his seat belt.

"Bye," Logan said before getting out of the car.

"Wait," Derek rolled his window down.

"Yeah?" Logan asked putting his Yankees hat that Mark had gotten him for his eighth birthday on his head.

"Take this," Derek handed Logan a cell phone.

"Why?" James asked taking the object.

"I don't know, just in case." Derek explained.

"Everything is going to be fine," Logan put his hand on Derek's arm and smiled.

* * *

Derek walked into the hospital holding Meredith's hand. It was a routine they had practiced for the last seventeen odd years. Some days they did not come to work together, especially when Meredith was still a resident. There wasn't a lot of flexibility.

Now with Derek as the chief and Meredith as an attending with interns and residents running around their feet, they had a lot of flexibility when it came to hours. Meredith squeezed Derek's hand as they walked into the elevator and made their ascend up to the surgical floor.

When they first got off the elevator Izzie, who was deeply indulged in her yogurt, greeted them, "Hey,"

"Hey Iz." Meredith smiled back letting go of Derek's hand and re-adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"Alex just woke up James, he's in the same place as usual. He slept pretty much through the night so that's good." Izzie told Derek and Meredith. She had to be on call last night and Meredith assumed she was on her way home.

"Oh, well I'll go see him." Derek said, "You coming?" He asked Meredith.

"Um, I'll be right in, tell James I'm here." Meredith told Derek and he walked away, "Sorry, he's kind of out of it these days." Meredith apologized for Derek's distant behavior to Izzie.

"Oh, it's not a problem. I mean when Lexie was here I was probably not the easiest to deal with. It'll get better." Izzie reassured her friend.

"I know it will, and I think Logan does too. Even James. But Derek, I don't know, I mean sometimes he supports me but I don't know.." Meredith said, "Anyway. I better get going."

"Yeah, see you later Mer." Izzie smiled as Meredith walked off towards James' room. Meredith walked into his room and saw Matt sitting in the corner and Derek in the chair next to Matt and the three boys were talking, probably about sports or something. Matt noticed Meredith.

"Hey Meredith, what's up?" Matt asked, greeting Meredith.

"Not much Matt, is your dad or your mom here?" Meredith asked.

"Um, my mom was called out to Vancouver today for this weekend and my dad said he would pop in later. I'm staying with my dad this weekend I guess." Matt answered.

"Cool, very cool." Meredith smiled and too and took off her coat and put in on the table in front of James' bed, "So bud, big day huh?" Meredith sat on her son's hospital bed and smiled.

"Yeah, so how long until I get out of here?" James eagerly asked his parents.

"Well, we've got to monitor the fluid in your brain for at least four more days. And if your surgery goes well today and your bones set nicely, you'll be in your cast and sling for a while," Derek started.

"And you'll need therapy." Meredith added.

"Yeah, and that. But other than that I bet you'll be out of here within a week." Derek smiled.

"So no more soccer?" Matt asked.

"I guess not for this year." James looked down at his hands, "What about hockey, will I be able to play hockey this winter?" James asked his mom as if his life depended on it.

"Probably not, but you can play on the indoor soccer league you usually do, it doesn't involve your arm as much as hockey does." Meredith rubbed her son's arm for comfort.

James just sat there looking at his hands. Why did he have to fall during soccer? He hated that he wasn't going to be able to play hockey and soccer. He hated that he was going to be in the hospital for another week. It wasn't like James to hate; he was always the most reasonable one in the family. When there were fights he would go up to his room and listen to music and quickly apologize. Logan was always the one to pick a fight. James wanted to get out fast. He wanted to go home and shoot hoops with his dad late at night outside. He wanted to go fishing in his yard; he wanted to hang out with friends. He was bored and frustrated.

"You okay there?" Derek asked standing up from his chair.

"Yeah, just tired, that's all." James covered up his frustration just to make his parents confusing lived just that much less complicated.

"Well I am going to see where the pathetic excuse for an intern is on this case because you need to get down to pre-op." Derek said, "It'll be over soon bud."

James looked back down and Meredith told Matt that she would go down to the café to get him a drink and he quickly agreed. The family left and James was left alone with his thoughts. He looked around the room and his eyes fell on the mirror in front of him. He looked at his face; it was lighter than usual. His hair was starting to grow back, he looked like a boy with a buzz cut. He had never had a buzz cut before, ever since he was little he had the moused up occasionally jelled back hair. That was the way he liked it. The more he looked at himself the more he saw his father. He saw his mother's cheeks in himself and her ears, but other than that he was definitely a Shepherd. He had the nose and they sea blue eyes and of course the hair. His build was sturdy, over the summer he had worked to have abs and it had paid off. He arms were decently well built but not like Matt who was incredibly toned. It actually grossed James out from time to time. Just then Dr. Elgert walked in with Mark.

"Hey Bud, you ready for pre-op?" Mark asked, James wondered why the man was in his scrubs considering he didn't work at the hospital.

"Ready as I'll ever be." James answered confidently as Jeff Elgert took his blood pressure wrapping the tight device around his arm, "Why are you here?"

"I'm scrubbing in on your surgery, your Dad's letting me. Or making me I guess you could say, he just wants to make sure you don't die or whatever." Mark smiled, "See I even have my old Seattle Grace badge on, I'm a transfer just for your case, feel special?

"Oh most definitely." James was glad to see a familiar face on his team of doctors.

"So, do you want me to fix up your face for you while we're in there. However, it will take hours a lot of work to be done." Mark laughed.

"Oh your so funny." James replied as the pressure was relieved from his arm.

* * *

It was around one in the afternoon and Logan was sitting at lunch. He knew his brother would be going into surgery soon and if it was a good day at Seattle Grace he would be in now. He took out his lunch box and opened it up to see the routine peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, apple juice, orange, and his dad always sneaked a cookie in for him. His New York Yankees hat was on his head and his school shirt was un-tucked from his khaki pants. He hated that he had to wear a stupid uniform to school, James was so lucky, he didn't have to, he went to public school, but not Logan. Just then he felt a tap on his back. He turned his head to find a teacher behind him.

"Mrs. Jones, what's up?" Logan casually addressed his teacher.

"Your attire Mr. Shepherd." The lady told the boy.

"Oh sorry," Logan removed his hat and ran his hair through his hair to make it not so hat headish.

"Your shirt too." The teacher eyed the fifth grader as all of his friends at his table laughed.

"Oh I'm sorry." Logan blushed and out his shirt into his pants arbitrarily.

"Mr. Shepherd, that is the fourth warning you have gotten for your outfit choice this week, your going to have to come with me." Logan knew what this meant. A call home. Not the best thing in the world as of right now. He got up and followed the teacher down the hall and into the office where he sat in one of the chairs as she got his contact paper from one of the secretaries.

"Would you like me to call your mother or your father?" Mrs. Jones asked, at least she had the heart to ask him that.

"Um, well Mrs. Jones. My parents work at the same place, they're both surgeons and today my brother is in for surgery and I would really like not to disrupt them." Logan looked down at his hands trying to use every ounce of pull he could get with his teacher.

"It's not going to work with me today Logan, every day I hear about how your parents have a surgery and you can't interrupt them. I've put this off enough, you need to start respecting the rules. I'm sure your parents are very busy people but they obviously love you enough for you to be here and I think they'll want you to be doing the right thing, so I'm sorry Logan, I am going to have to call them."

* * *

It was a little after one and James had already gone into surgery. An earlier surgery had been canceled and since Derek was in charge of the OR board he bumped his son up. Derek and Meredith were playing cards in Derek's office waiting for the surgery to be over, they expected it would be a little over twoish hours and it had been almost thirty minutes. Derek's cell phone rang and he immediately picked it up.

"Dr. Shepherd." Derek answered the phone.

"Hi, Chief Shepherd, this is Mrs. Jones, Logan's social studies teacher." Mrs. Jones greeted Derek from the office of Woodside Private Elementary School. Derek mouthed to Meredith that it was Logan's school.

"Hi Mrs. Jones, how may I help you?" Derek answered remembering the lady from prior meetings.

"Well, I have Logan here and I thought maybe you would like to speak to him." Mrs. Jones handed the phone to Logan. Just when he thought he was getting off easy he wasn't. At least he had chosen to call his dad.

"Hi dad." Logan bit his lip.

"Logan what did you do?" Derek asked expecting the worst.

"Um, well, I was wearing my Yankees hat during lunch and my shirt was un-tucked," Logan informed Derek and then caught the angry eye of his teacher, "Oh and it was the fourth time I was told to fix my clothes this week."

"Logan," Derek started rubbing his hand over his face, "Didn't your mother tell you to follow the wardrobe rules, come on kid, you only have a few more months at the school."

"I'm sorry dad." Logan looked down at his sneakers, at least he was allowed to wear those.

"What does this mean Logan, detention?" Derek asked.

"No, I just had to call you. I think that's it." Logan glanced at his teacher and nodded.

"Just, don't do it again okay?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, okay. So, how's James?" Logan asked.

"He's in surgery. Make sure you remember that George is picking you up at two o'clock." Derek reminded the kid.

"That's it, you're not going to punish me right now?" Logan asked his father.

"Not right now, you do it again and then we'll see." Derek answered.

"Okay! Bye dad." Logan smiled, he was getting off easy.

"Bye squirt, stay out of trouble." Derek smiled to himself and put the phone down.

* * *

George was driving his car down a windy road right outside of Seattle. Meredith had sent him to pick up Logan, he was on call but Derek had let him off. Today had been an odd day. His godson was in surgery. His daughter was home sick with his wife. And any day his wife could go into labor with their second child. Life was good. He flipped the visor down because the sun was blocking his vision. His eye caught one of the CDs he had on the visor, it was one James had made for him last year. He took the CD out of the holder and put it in the CD drive of the car. He let the music fill the car as the he traveled down the long, windy road. Finally he reached Woodside and he got out of the car and walked into the school's office and requested that Logan be dismissed.

Logan walked down the hall, Yankees hat in hand, backpack on back, hair tousled, shirt tucked in, pants wrinkled, and sneakers dirty. He looked like a kid who had one hell of a day, "Hey bud." George greeted the disheveled eleven year old.

"Hi George." Logan replied.

"A bit tired there kid?" George asked Logan as they walked out of the school.

"Yeah, Dad hasn't been sleeping much. Well neither has mom but dad walks around the house and stuff and it wakes me up." Logan said as the pair entered George's car.

"Well, at least you got to leave early right?" George asked as he started the car.

"Yeah, I guess." Logan said staring out the window.

* * *

Callie, Mark, and Dr. Elgert were all scrubbed in working on James Shepherd. The surgery was going well, no complications; Callie was done resetting the arm and they were closing his arm up. She expected that he would be able to go home in about six days.

"Two hours and fifteen minutes, nice work Dr. Torres." Jeff Elgert complimented Callie as they rolled James out of the OR.

"It's not about speed Dr. Elgert. You'll learn that someday." Callie told the intern, "Take James here to the recovery room and Mark, go talk to Shepherd and Grey." Callie instructed. The two men went their separated ways.

Mark walked down the hallway, past the OR board toward Derek's office. He missed Seattle Grace. He thought about asking Derek if he could move his practice to the hospital a couple times but he never followed through with it. He didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of being around Addison. He walked over the bridge and saw many faces. He didn't recognize any of them except for one particular red head. Addison walked by him, he wasn't too fond of talking to her since they split up but it would be rude not to at this point.

"Addison, hey. I thought you were going to New York." Mark said as she stopped in front of him.

"My flight was cancelled, what are you doing here?" Addison asked putting her glasses down around her neck, "If your wondering where Matt is I know he's here. I saw him in the cafeteria with Meredith earlier. Real mature Mark, letting your son skip school."

"Nice to see you too." Mark laughed.

"Just, I'll take Matt home tonight." Addison said.

"I thought you were going to Vancouver for a consult." Mark said starting to walk away.

"I'm not needed anymore. I'll talk to you later Mark." Addison walked past her ex.

Mark sighed, he had been looking forward to spending the weekend with Matt. Next weekend maybe. He walked to Derek's office and walked in. Meredith and Derek were still playing cards at Derek's desk.

"Mark. Is it done?" Meredith asked anxiously.

"Yeah, it's done. He's fine." Mark smiled.

"Thank you." Meredith got up gave Mark a hug and then ran out of the room.

"Thanks," Derek said shaking Mark's hand.

"No problem, thank Callie." Mark said as the two of them walking out of the office.

Mark and Derek walked down the hallway by the elevators. The bell on the elevator rang and the doors opened. George and Logan walked out. Logan had already taken the liberty of putting his Yankees hat on, un-tucking his shirt, taking his sweater vest off, and untying his shoelaces. Well, the last part probably wasn't intentional.

"Dad!" Logan yelled to get Derek's attention. Derek and Mark turned around letting George and Logan into their vision. Logan caught up to Derek and Mark. Mark smiled and offering his hand for a high-five. Logan slapped the man's hand and smiled. Derek smiled and took off Logan's hat and windswept his hair.

"Dad! Come on!" Logan complained.

"Hey, you already got in trouble today for wearing your hat inside, do you want your mom to get mad at you too?" Derek asked taking the hat captive.

"But I want to wear it!" Logan exclaimed.

"Maybe I want to wear it." Mark smiled and put the hat on his head to taunt the boy.

"Mark!" Logan started jumping around to reach the man's head. Mark and Derek started to laugh and George caught up to the group.

"It's not going to happen there bud. How tall are you now?" Derek asked.

"4 foot 10 inches." Logan told them.

"Good luck reaching Mark." George laughed.

"Here Derek, why don't you carry it for Logan." Mark handed the hat to Derek. Logan sighed and the four reached James' room. Callie must have just brought him from the recovery room. James was still asleep from being sedated and Callie was writing some things on his chart. Meredith was sitting on his bed rubbing his arm and smiling. James had a new cast on. It went past his elbow and it was just white plaster. It definitely sucked.

"So he should be waking up soon and I think he should be out of here in about six days." Callie told everyone.

"Good. That's good." Derek said taking a seat next to Meredith on the bed, "Thanks Callie."

"No problem." Callie smiled and walked out of the room. George sat down in the chair in the corner. Mark leaned up against the doorframe and Logan just stood in the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey Logan." Meredith greeted her son.

"Hi mom." Logan said.

"Did you have a good day at school other than your incident at lunch?" Meredith asked as Logan made his way to where she and Derek were on the bed and sat down next to them.

"Yeah. I guess. It was really fun to leave early, thanks George." Logan smiled.

"Not a problem Gan-Man. Not a problem." Logan laughed at the use of his all time favorite nicknames. Meredith smiled too and so did Derek. It was the first time the whole family was truly happy since James was originally in the hospital. Just then James started to stir.

"James? You awake?" Meredith asked.

"What happened?" James asked groggily.

"You had surgery on your arm, remember?" Derek asked smiling at his son, he knew that the boy needed comfort right now.

"Yeah. Is it over? Am I going to be out of here soon?" James asked sleepily.

"If everything stays the same in your head, then yes; you'll be out of here pretty soon." Meredith rubbed James' arm and smiled. James closed his eyes again and Derek assumed he was going to sleep. The five of them all sat in the room just to be with James in case he woke up again and was confused. A little while later Matt made his way into the room to bid Mark farewell for he was going to Addison's.

Soon enough George had to leave. He had to pick up his kids from daycare. And eventually around five Mark left. He had to get back to some of his patients at his practice. The four Shepherds were left in the room. James still hadn't woken up for a second time and Logan, Meredith, and Derek were just talking. Logan had put on the TV and everyone was pretty much just watching the news at this point.

Derek wasn't really paying attention to the news, he was counting the number of times his son's heart monitor beep went off, or the number of people that walked by the room. Right now Derek had taken the task of listening to the footsteps outside the room. There were a lot. Just then, one of the pairs of feet stopped at James' room and Derek heard the all familiar voice.

"Derek, is that you?" Derek looked up, as did Meredith and Logan and there he was.

"Richard?" Derek looked so surprised. He stood up and walked over to the man. The two exchanged handshakes and then Derek pulled the older man into a tight embrace. When they let go Richard saw that Meredith and Logan were standing right behind Derek.

"Chief, Richard, uh, hi hello." Meredith added awkwardly.

"What happened? Is that James?" Richard asked seeing James laying in the bed, "I wouldn't have recognized him with out his hair."

"Yeah, soccer incident." Derek said.

"So how is everyone, Logan. How are you I haven't seen you since Christmas." Richard smiled.

"I'm fine." Logan answered happy to see him.

"Good, good. So I was supposed to have a meeting with some people here at Seattle Grace but I think I can wait until James wakes up. Plus I'll get to talk to you guys." Richard smiled setting his stuff down.

"Oh well we don't want to keep you." Meredith added.

"Nonsense, come, tell me, what's going on here? I miss being here everyday." Richard asked eagerly.

The family sat down. They exchanged stories and laughs. Everyone was happy. Eventually James woke up, greeted by the voice of Richard, which was a nice surprise. Everything was finally getting back to normal.

**Next Up: **Richard is going to be in town for a little while. And we meet George's family. James gets to go home and his hair finally starts to really grow back.

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**A/N: **I hope you liked it!

Please review )


	4. I Just Wanna Live

**Disclaimer**: I do not have any affiliation with Grey's Anatomy. I do not own the characters either. This is simply for fun.

**A/N:** I apologize for the wicked long wait. School, skiing, and life got in the way. But it's summer now and updates will become more frequent. I try to keep chapters long too, so take that into consideration.

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Chapter IV

I Just Wanna Live

Dr. Elizabeth McCartney was a surgical resident. She had long hours at Seattle Grace and five interns. She worked under Dr. Meredith Grey, Dr. Christina Yang, and Dr. Alex Karev. Dr. Christina Yang was her resident when she was an intern and now Christina was an attending and she was a resident.

Dr. McCartney walked down the hall on a Sunday afternoon. She hated working on Sundays, but she was on a 48-hour shift with her interns and it wasn't fun. She walked down the hall past the Chief's office. She saw Derek Shepherd in his office talking on the phone. He was in casual clothes but still; he usually didn't work on Sundays. He and Meredith Grey both had Sundays off. She knew they spent time with their kids. She walked past Derek's office and past some patient rooms when she heard a lot of noise coming from one of them.

She walked into patient room 4446 and found where the noise was coming from. Dr. McCartney found one of her interns, Jeff Elgert throwing a football around with one boy who looked to be somewhere around eleven years old. Another boy was zipping up a bag on the bed and a third boy was receiving the football from Dr. Elgert. She recognized the boys. The one zipping the bag up was James Shepherd, he had just had a surgery a week ago and the younger boy was his brother Logan. The third boy was Matt Sloan.

"Dr. Elgert! What are you doing?" Elizabeth exclaimed as she walked into the room.

"Dr. McCartney!" Jeff swirled around as he got the football back from Matt, "What? I, um…" Jeff stumbled.

"Go, now. Sutures in the ER." Dr. McCartney ordered and Jeff quickly ran out of the room. Dr. McCartney walked further into the room and took a look at James' chart, "Looks like your going home today Mr. Shepherd." Matt laughed at the casual tone in her voice.

"James, please call me James." James shook her hand and smiled.

"Alright James, I see your packing up. You get to go home, remember to use the cane. I saw your father here, is he bringing you home?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, well my Mom's here too. She's just checking on some patients. She brought me this duffle bag to pack myself up with." James zipped up his bag and took the hat on his nightstand and placed it on his head.

"James! Is that new?!" Logan yelled from where he was standing, it was a new Seahawks hat and Logan being the hat junky he was wanted it instantaneously.

"Yeah, Dad bought it for me. 'Cause I have no hair." James said.

"Correction," Matt started as he sat down on the swirly chair, "You have hair, just not the girl magnet hair you want to have."

James laughed and Matt swiveled around. "So James Shepherd, you'll be free to go after your parents sign these papers Dr. Elgert left for you." Dr. McCartney told the boy while she signed some stuff off on his chart.

"Cool, so am I free to walk out of this room, I mean I am unhooked from the IV. With my cane of course." James smiled hoping to charm the-what-he-thought-seemed-to-be-a hard-ass doctor.

"As long as you people don't 'cause any trouble then yes, you're free to go." Dr. McCartney smiled and took his chart and walked out of the room.

"Thanks Dr. McCartney!" James yelled after her, "C'mon let's go." James, Logan, and Matt all walked out of the patient room. The three walked down the hallway passing the football back and forth as they did so. Logan followed the two boys occasionally receiving the football. Matt was hanging out with them today, Addison was on call today and Mark had to work and Matt had nothing to do so Derek and Meredith took him to the hospital with them. The three boys reached Derek's office and walked inside.

Derek was sitting at his desk doing something on his computer when he saw the three boys walk in, "JJ, it's good to see you up and walking, your new cast looks good." Derek said while he flipped his laptop shut and walked out from behind his desk.

"Can we go home soon?" Logan asked eagerly.

"Yeah, I've just got to fix up the OR board and then find your mom, oh and Richard is coming this afternoon." Derek said as he walked past the boys

"Oh sweet!" James exclaimed excitedly.

"So I've got to fix up the OR Board before we go, so will you guys for find your mom?" Derek asked the boys.

"Sure." Logan replied.

The trio walked down the hall with Derek until they reached the OR board where Derek started to look over the board. Then the three boys broke off from him, "Wait." Derek said and they turned around. The blue eyes of his sons and Matt's eyes meeting his, "Give me the ball." Derek put his hands out to catch it.

"Fine, here." James said as he threw over the football.

"Thank you, now go find her." Derek smiled and then the boys continued down the hall. Matt put his hands into the pocket of his jacket and continued to walk down the hall. This is where Matt grew up, the surgical wing was where he was as a kid. His parents rarely took time off and he was always there. Sometimes Matt wondered if he wasn't planned, and when his parents split up when he was ten, he blamed himself. James had been there for him then and told him it wasn't his fault and when he didn't believe James, Derek set him straight. When Addison and Mark split, Derek took Matt and James on a two week camping trip just to get Matt away from it all. That was one of Matt's fondest memories.

The three walked into the gallery to see if Meredith was in there and she was in the corner, "Hey mom, look I'm up and at 'em!" James smiled proudly as he walked on his weak leg with the help of the cane and held his plastered arm in a heavy-duty sling.

"Aw, that's great JJ." Meredith smiled as she gathered some things from beneath her chair, "Hey Matt, hey Logan. So I'm ready to go, if you're ready." Meredith said as she got up and walked over to the boys.

"More than ready." JJ let his mother wrap her arm around his shoulder and the four walked off.

* * *

"Pregnant lady coming through!" George ran through the E.R. with his wife Erin he got a wheel chair and had her sit down, "I've got to page Dr. Montgomery!" George stopped for a minute to page Addison.

"George, calm down." Erin put her hand on his arm comforting her very anxious, nervous husband, "Second timer, remember?" She looked at George with soothing chocolate eyes.

"Yeah, so Addison should be on her way." George told Erin and then nervously wheeled her very slowly to a room up in Pediatrics. As they reached the elevator the door opened carrying five people, four of which Shepherds.

"George!" Meredith greeted surprised, "I thought you were off today." She then noticed Erin sitting in the wheelchair, "Oh my God."

"Exciting huh?" Erin answered smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah!" Meredith smiled. Ever since George had met Erin, Meredith and Erin had been friends, "Hey guys I'm gonna stay here for a while."

"Aw Mom!" Logan cried out from the back of the elevator.

"I promise, next week, you and me bud, we'll go to the movies together." Meredith smiled kneeling down to her son's level playing with his hair.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but we should move this outside the elevator." Derek said leading the family out to where the O'Malley's were.

"It's okay Mom, we'll be fine." James smiled as Meredith stood up and grabbed Erin's wheel chair and wheeled her into the elevator, George followed behind.

"Alright, and JJ, I want to see you using that cane we bought for you." Meredith said, considering James had lost some nerves and activity in his right leg Derek and Meredith had suggested that he use a cane until they decided it was okay not to.

"Mom, that's so weird! What fifteen-year old do you see walking around with a cane!" James complained.

"You apparently." Matt said and Derek laughed. Just then Erin grimaced with pain and yelled out.

"Contraction?" Meredith asked as George nervously tapped the elevator's side.

"Yeah, I think so." Erin half smiled.

"Alright, we're off. I'll call you guys later."

"I'll be back later," Derek said and Meredith smiled and pushed a button on the inside of elevator and the doors closed leaving the four boys alone. Derek ran his hand through his hair and James readjusted his new hat, Logan just stood there and Matt put his hands in his pockets.

"So…" Derek said, it wasn't much fun when no one was there to plan what they would do next. Once again the four of them just stood there. It was rather amusing that now that Meredith wasn't there, none of them could think of anything to do…well except for Matt.

"So I'm thinking we hit up Joe's get some drinks, and then we go out smoking and sky diving." Matt laughed putting his arm around Derek smiling.

"You do know, they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree for just any reason." Derek laughed, "Get off of me!" Derek flipped under Matt's arm, "So I'm thinking home." Derek said.

"Dad come on, that's boring." James said as the four started walking back to James' room. James had a distinctive limp but that didn't stop him from wanting to through balls around or go golfing or skiing or most importantly play soccer.

'Yeah but we 'could hang out, play X-Box or something." Derek tried to spice up the idea of being home.

"How about hot tub, girls, strippers?" Matt muttered under his breath to James and James started laughing.

* * *

Derek drove one of his few cars down the street his house was on. Today he drove the blue S.U.V., it made the most sense today considering it was carrying three boys. The sun was out today and it was reflecting on the water that Derek could see through the woods. Soon enough Derek reached the house and drove the large vehicle into its garage. He turned the car off and turned around to address the two boys in the back seat and the one sitting next to him.

"I'm going to walk down to the water for a little while, maybe do a little fishing. Anyone want to come?" Derek asked the boys, "Then Richard is coming by for dinner tonight so we have to be all dressed and ready for your mom at the latest at four."

"Yeah sure." Logan responded and the other two nodded and jumped out of the car. Derek laughed at how the word fishing could get the boys up in a second; they had completely disregarded the fact that their surrogate grandfather was coming over. Derek sat in the car for another minute or so just thinking to himself and then Logan came out in a pair of old jeans and a raggedy old t-shirt with his black fleece jacket over it, he always wore that black jacket when he went fishing.

"Dad! C'mon!" Logan tapped on the window of the car.

"I'm coming," Derek said as he stepped out of the car.

"Hey dad, how is James going to fish?" Logan asked Derek as he got the tackle box and poles out of the garage.

"Eh, I don't know. We'll have to help him." Derek said as he grabbed his fishing vest from the hook of the garage and put it on. Then turned around to look at his son, "Where's your fishing hat?" Derek asked, he had bought his son the fishing hat he had to have last month.

"Um…" Logan looked down at the floor avoiding his father's skeptical blue eyes.

"Logan I swear to God if you lost that $75 hat!" Derek flipped at his son.

"Dad I'll find it I swear!" Logan yelled.

"You better find it. Mere…mom will be so mad if you lost it!" Derek ran a hand through his hair. Logan was prone to losing things.

"I know, I know!"

"Go get James and Matt, 'cause I'm going out." Derek said as he pulled the tackle kit in his hand and walked out of the garage.

Logan ran back into the house haphazardly opening the screen door on his way in. He ran through the mudroom that connected the kitchen to the garage and then ran through the spacious kitchen and bumped into the island of the kitchen briefly. This didn't stop him, the boy ran up the backset of stairs where the walls were covered with family pictures. When he made it upstairs he ran by his old playroom which now held all sorts of electronics, and then past the guest rooms and his parents room. He finally ran down the end of the hall and approached another set of stairs that led him to the third floor of the Shepherd near-mansion. The small spiral staircase led to another small hallway that only contained two rooms. One was his own and the other, larger one (Logan always made that know), was James'. The door was open and Matt and James were zipping up jackets.

"Dad's going out to the lake, he wanted me to tell you." Logan said as James took out his fishing vest and placed it over his fleece jacket, "Do you know where my fishing hat is?" Logan asked.

"No." James answered as he grabbed his cane and the three boys walked out of James' room.

"Oh well, I have no idea where it is and mom is going to murder me." Logan said as they walked down the spiral staircase.

"Sucks to be you." Matt smiled as Logan just glared back.

* * *

It was around two in the afternoon and James was sitting on the rocks by the lake on the Shepherd's property. Matt was skipping stones because he had given up because the fish were not biting. Logan was up to his waist in the water but wasn't getting wet because he borrowed a pair of Derek's old rain boots. Derek stood next to the boy and was pretty much giving up on the fishing as well.

"I'm going in." James said standing up carefully, his cane in his hand.

"Yeah I'm pretty much right behind you." Derek said as he ran a quick hand though his hair and shrugged, "Fish just aren't biting today."

Just then they all heard a noise and sure enough a car was pulling into the driveway

"Must be Richard, perfect timing." Derek said.

Richard got out of the car and started to walk into the house when Derek yelled out, "Hey we're down here." Richard looked around and saw the four people down by the water and walked toward them.

"James, congratulations on being out of the hospital," Richard said as he approached the water.

"Thanks," James said walking toward Richard as everybody else did.

"Richard, did you hear?" Derek asked as he shook the man's hand and gave him a hug.

"No, what?" Richard replied releasing Derek's hand.

"Erin went into labor." Derek said.

"George's wife?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, I was going to go back to the hospital soon, want to come?" Derek asked as everyone walked back to the house slowly.

"Aw, Dad, do we have to go?" Logan pouted.

"No, you can stay here." Derek told him, "However, JJ, you and Matt better be good and look after Logan."

"Yeah, sure." James reassured his father.

"So Richard, I'll go change and I'll be ready to go." Derek said, "Entertain him boys."

Derek ran off into the house and the three boys and Richard walked into the house at James' pace. Soon enough Derek was done changing into his casual attire and out of his fishing clothes. Derek and Richard left for the hospital and were driving when Derek asked Richard what he was dying to know, "So, not to sound rude, but, why are you here?"

"I knew this question was coming." Richard said shifting nervously in the passenger seat.

"That meeting you had the other day at the hospital, what was that about?" Derek asked as he tapped the steering wheel.

"You have to keep this quiet Derek, because I know that I have to tell you because you won't let it be if I don't." Richard paused and looked out the window, "Right after Christmas, after I got home from Seattle, I started to have minimal seizures, I went to the hospital and they told me that not much could be done about it, partially because of my age. It's a grade four astrocytomic tumor." Richard finished.

"Glioblastoma multiforme" Derek said quietly, that was what Richard had. It was a hard to cure tumor, "Richard there must be something…"

"No, there's not. That's why I was at Seattle Grace, that's what my meeting was about. The specialist said there was nothing he could do."

"You and I both know that Meredith and I are the best neurosurgeons on the West Coast, except maybe for LA. Who did you meet with?" Derek asked.

"Dr. Pudutski." Richard answered simply.

"Oh come on Richard! Let Meredith and I take a look at it." Derek pleaded.

"No, I won't drag Meredith into this." Richard said firmly, "Thatcher died two years ago, she didn't take that well."

Derek nodded as Richard continued.

"She doesn't need to worry about me. Now I'm here to look for a place to live for the next couple of years that I have. Let Meredith be. I'll tell her when the time is right. For now I need you to be quiet about this."

"Richard…"

"Derek. Just keep it quiet." Richard begged.

Derek nodded and the two continued their drive in silence.

* * *

Meredith, Christina, Alex, and Izzie were all sitting in the waiting room. It was around three in the afternoon and they had been kicked out of Erin's room as Addison saw it fit to dry and deliver. All four were granted the afternoon off, by their own will. Interns and residents could do the work; one of their best friends was about to become a father again.

"So, if it's a girl you all owe me 40 bucks." Alex laughed as the four settled on a bet.

"Well you're on, because it's so going to be a girl." Izzie said.

"Oh yeah? And how are you so sure?' Alex asked.

"Hello, we all need another boy around here." Christina said, "all we've got are James and Logan. And they're old."

"Don't even say that, my kids are not old." Meredith said as Derek and Richard walked in.

"Hey!" Izzie said.

"Hello everybody, any news?" Richard asked.

"Addison went in about an hour ago so I guess we should be hearing from someone soon." Alex said.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Derek asked after he gave Meredith a kiss and sat down next to Alex.

"Oh we gave ourselves the afternoon off." Christina said opening a magazine. Derek gave her a raise of the eyebrows and smiled, "Chief." Christina added and rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad you all took that liberty." Derek smiled folding his hands over his lap.

"Hey don't drag me into this, I don't even work here. So chief, I heard you were here but I couldn't believe it." Izzie said greeting Richard, "How are you?"

"I'm good. But how are all of you?" Richard aksed.

"Fine, the same as Christmas," Christina said, "So why are you here? You never come unannounced…"

Just then George walked into the room smiling.

"George!" Everyone got up to greet him.

"It's a boy!" George yelled happily.

"Aha! Pay up Alex!" Christina yelled.

"What, you guys were making bets on the sex of my kid?" George asked.

"Well duh." Alex said taking out his wallet.

"Where are my brothers?" George asked rolling his eyes.

"Um, on their way." Meredith supplied as she had called them earlier.

"Okay, I'm going to get back to Erin and no-name. I guess we need to work on it." George stammered out through his excitement.

"Yeah, I would say you do." Derek said.

"So, when Ronnie and Jerry get here, and whoever else is coming, come on in." George said and walked out of the room.

"If everyone would excuse me I just want to check up on the surgical board." Derek said and walked out of the room.

"I'm telling you Derek, you can't stay away for one minute!" Alex shouted after him, "The lack of self control is sad!"

Derek just laughed and walked down the hall. He had said that he was on his way to the board but that was not where he was going. He walked to the elevator, seeing he was not on the surgical floor, and got in. While on the elevator he took out his pager and paged Meredith to his office. When the elevator got to the surgical floor, Derek got out and walked down to his office.

Back in the room Meredith got the page and quietly excused herself from the commotion of the light chatter between friends. She took the same route Derek took to get to the office. When she arrived to his office she could see him sitting on his desk through the glass windows. She quickly walked over to the door and opened it.

"Derek, what's wrong. Do you need me for a surgery or something?" She asked quickly as she walked into the office and stood by the chairs.

"Richard isn't here just to visit." Derek stated flatly.

"What?" Meredith asked confused as she looked at the way Derek's forehead had the lines that appeared when he was in thought.

"I shouldn't tell you this, but I have to." Derek said looking up at her, "I have to tell you because if I don't, things will be…" Derek trailed off for a second and thought, as Meredith looked at him with wide eyes, "painful." Derek finished.

"What is it?" Meredith asked.

"Richard, he has a tumor." Meredith just stood there, "He asked me not to tell you but I couldn't. I just, he's the one that's been there." Derek said watching Meredith's face for clues as to what she was thinking. "Everyone that was ever close to you in the past has, well you know, not made it to be with us today," Derek chose his words carefully.

"How bad is it?" Meredith asked.

"Decently bad, from what I've heard he's probably got a year, two at the best." Derek said looking down at his hands again.

"And there's nothing anyone can do for him?" Meredith asked.

"I don't think so." Derek said standing up from his desk to give Meredith a hug but Meredith quickly backed away. Derek was not surprised by this, she closed up when it came to pain.

"And Richard told you not to tell me?" Meredith asked confused.

"Yes, but I had to." Derek explained.

"No, I just. I have to go." Meredith said and quickly walked out of the office.

"Meredith, wait." But it didn't work. Derek saw her storm by the glass window and he sat back down on his desk. He now regretted telling her but it probably would have gone worse if he hadn't. He walked back to the waiting room where everyone was. No one was there so he walked to Erin's room. Everyone was in there to greet Austin O'Malley. He told his friends that Meredith had a surgery to get to seeing as she wasn't there and obviously hadn't returned. After spending the next couple of hours with his friends and the happy O'Malley family, Derek excused himself and tried to find a surgery to oversee or work on. He found Burke and assisted him and some intern on a pretty intense surgery. After that had gone well he returned to his office and did mindless paperwork to avoid home. He knew that Meredith needed time alone and he knew she was home because he had talked to Logan on the phone.

It was after ten when Richard walked into his old office where Derek had fallen asleep at the desk. Richard walked up to the desk and shook Derek's arm to wake him up. Derek picked his head up and rubbed his eyes.

"Go home, Derek." Richard told Derek sincerely.

"I guess I should." Derek said sitting up in his chair.

"Why are you here, didn't you have the day off?" Richard asked obviously having no knowledge to the fact that Derek had told Meredith about his brain tumor.

"I, uh, needed to assist Preston on a surgery." Derek supplied telling Richard the half-truth.

"If there's one thing that I've told you one million times and you have not listen to it, it's the fact that surgery is not the answer to avoiding home, Derek." Richard said sitting down in one of the chairs across from the desk, "It's why I lost my wife, and giving up the job is the only way I eventually got her back. And now she's gone, and I curse myself for all of those moments I spent doing the same exact thing you're doing right now."

"I'm not trying to avoid home. Meredith and I had a bit of a fight today," Derek once again half lied, "and I'm trying to give her some space. And I fell asleep." Derek finished.

"Alright, just trust me." Richard said, "Go home."

Derek got up from his chair, he was still wearing his coat that he had put on after the surgery. He figured he would wear it home and wash it.

"Where are you staying?" Derek asked Richard.

"A hotel, I'm fine Derek. Don't worry about me. Just go home." Richard said.

"Alright, I'll see you later." Derek said and walked to the door, "Are you leaving?" Derek asked Richard when he noticed the other man didn't leave.

"I think I'll stay in here for a little while, if that's okay with you, chief." Richard laughed to himself at the irony.

"Way to be sentimental and depressing Chief," Derek joked and walked out of the room leaving Richard sitting on the couch.

* * *

Derek arrived into his garage a little less than a half an hour later. He closed the garage and walked into his house. The house was quiet and only a couple of lights were on which told Derek that everyone was upstairs. Tomorrow was a school day, and a work day; which meant that everyone was probably in bed considering it was around eleven. When Derek made it to the top of the stairs he immediately went into his room, he did not find Meredith there. Immediately confused he took off his coat and laid it on his bed.

Derek quietly walked up the third set of stairs that lead to his kids rooms. He saw James asleep in his bed. Derek noticed that his hair was growing back, and growing back fast. In about a week he assumed it would be back to normal. Derek walked passed James' room and into Logan's where he found Logan and Meredith on Logan's bed. This didn't surprise Derek, Logan was still young enough that he wasn't completely against cuddling with his mother. He walked up to the sleeping pair and placed a kiss on both of their foreheads and ruffled his son's thick hair.

He then picked up Meredith and carried her out of the room after he shut the lamp that had been on off. He carried Meredith into their bedroom and placed her on his side of the bed. Derek grabbed a pair of pajamas for himself and walked into their bathroom and changed, brushed his teeth, and washed his face. He walked into his room and got on his bed. He put on his earplugs that had been on his night table for the past 18 or so years. Derek got under the covers where he had previously placed Meredith and wrapped a protective arm around her.

Soon enough, even after this day full of life and prospective death, Derek fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

**Next: **James goes back to school and Meredith confronts Richard about his tumor.

A/N: Once again, I am sorry for the wait. I also apologize for any errors or typos. All of that aside, please review! )


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